Fire Plans public consultation open
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is currently publicly consulting on Fire Plans in the following areas:
- Auckland
- Northland
- Waikato
- Bay of Plenty
- Tairāwhiti
- Taranaki
- Manawatū-Whanganui
- Hawke’s Bay
- Wellington
- Chatham Islands
- Nelson Tasman
- Marlborough
- West Coast
- Canterbury
- Otago
- Southland
Consultation is open from Thursday 15 February 2024 to Thursday 14 March 2024, 5pm. Following this, we will review all feedback and final Fire Plans will be published on our website by 22 July 2024.
Why is this consultation happening?
Fire Plans are required under Section 22(external link) of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 (the Act) and under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Plans) Regulations 2018 (Regulations)(external link). The first generation of Fire Plans created under the Act were developed and published in 2021.
As part of these regulations, Fire and Emergency must review and amend Fire Plans for each local area (reflecting either a Local Advisory Committee or a Territorial Local Authority boundary) at least once every three years and at the time of any significant change to the boundaries and other Fire Control Measures of the local area to ensure Fire Plans reflect the changing nature of communities and emerging risks they face.
What is a Fire Plan?
A Fire Plan provides transparency and predictability for how Fire and Emergency will use its fire control powers, outlining the particular fire risk conditions that exist or are likely to exist for the local area and sets out the policies and procedures at a local level for the management of risks relating to fire. Each Fire Plan outlines, specific to each local area, things like:
- what prohibitions or restrictions on the use of fire might apply, including what triggers we will use for those restrictions
- how firebreaks may reasonably be considered necessary for the purpose of fire control
- removal or destruction of vegetation or other things that could increase the fire risk.
Fire Plans include information on things like local demographics and environmental factors that are relevant to our work to reduce risks from fire and to manage the potential impacts if one occurs.
When developing these local Fire Plans, Fire and Emergency carefully considers the fire-risk profile and conditions specific to each local area.
How to make a submission
Before we finalise Fire Plans across the country, we invite the public, and interested stakeholders, to have their say on the proposed Fire Plans on our website(external link) or by emailing fireplans@fireandemergency.nz
What’s next?
We will review, finalise and publish final Fire Plans by 22 July 2024.
Got a question? Get in touch with the Fire Plans Project team at fireplans@fireandemergency.nz